Army suicides

349 suicides exceeded Afghanistan death toll

(Newser) -
Military suicides hit a grim new high in 2012, and experts believe that the problem may only get worse despite the Pentagon's best efforts, the AP finds. There were a total of 349 suicides among active-duty troops, the highest since the Pentagon began closely tracking the problem in 2001...
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As of October, 2012 numbers higher than 2011

(Newser) -
As of October, there were 166 suspected Army suicides this year; that's already one more than the total number for 2011. October itself saw 20 suspected suicides, up from 15 in September. That month, an increasingly concerned Army had soldiers suspend their duties to talk about suicide prevention, the...
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July saw 38 suicides

(Newser) -
The Army's suicide epidemic just keeps getting worse. There were 38 suicides among active-duty troops and reservists last month, the highest single-month total since 9/11 and possibly ever, reports Time . Other services are also struggling with suicides, and the July deaths—twice the number of troops killed in Afghanistan...
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Sexual assault on the rise as well

(Newser) -
Last year saw a record number of active-duty soldiers kill themselves, as well as a sharp jump in sexual violence, the Army revealed yesterday while presenting a new report on its overall health. Despite the Pentagon's newly bolstered suicide prevention efforts, 164 active-duty soldiers took their lives in 2011,...
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Administration reverses policy to help 'destigmatize' problem

(Newser) -
With suicides in the US military on the rise , the White House has changed its policy and will send letters of condolences to the soldiers' families, notes Jezebel . "The president feels strongly that we need to destigmatize the mental health costs of war to prevent these tragic deaths, and...
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As many, if not more lost to suicide than combat

(Newser) -
Admiral Mike Mullen's ominous prediction of a continuing rash of military suicides looks to be spot on—though suicides in 2010 didn't surpass combat deaths as they did in 2009, they did significantly jump, from 381 to 434, Congress.org reports. But that combined tally of 434 is also a...
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86 non-active-duty National Guard soldiers have killed themselves this year

(Newser) -
In the first 10 months of 2010, 86 National Guard soldiers who were not on active duty took their own lives—a sad figure made even more depressing by the fact that it's nearly double the figure for all of 2009. Last year, 48 non-active-duty Guard soldiers killed themselves, and...
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Four take lives over weekend

(Newser) -
Expect more servicemen and women to take their own lives in the months ahead, Admiral Mike Mullen warned today, in the wake of four such suicides over the weekend. “I think we are going to see a significant increase in the challenges that we have in terms of our...
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Hit highest point since Vietnam

(Newser) -
More soldiers committed suicide in June than in any single month since the Vietnam era, according to statistics released yesterday. A total of 32 killed themselves, including seven on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. It isn’t an isolated occurrence either—145 soldiers have killed themselves this year, more...
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